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the blade runner gets bail. breaking news following out of south africa for you. despite pleas from the prosecution that he would flee the country south africa's chief magistrate grants the double amputee track star bail ahead of his murder trial for allegedly killing his model girlfriend. we'll get a live report and legal analysis in just a few moments. hi everybody. i'm thomas roberts. great to have you with me. topping our agenda this friday the sequester freakout. federal agencies, states, schools, airports, even your supermarket all bracing for impact. and that's exactly what the president is banking on as he works his outside game with a week left to go. the white house already making plans for another campaign style press event next week in

virginia following the president's appearance with first responders this week. rounds of tv and radio interviews including this one with msnbc's al sharpton. >> we continue to reach out to the republicans and say, this is not going to be good for the economy t's not going to be good for ordinary people. but i don't know if they're going to move. >> the president did reach across the aisle this week most recently dialing up house speaker john boehner and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell yesterday. we don't know what was said in those calls, but we do know they didn't result in new meetings between the president and congressional leaders. both sides instead focusing on dominating this debate. >> democrats don't seem to understand that taxing americans dampens the economy. republicans don't seem to understand that massive unfocused cuts right now are going to slow down the economy. >> you seriously have to wonder whether anyone in washington, in the house and the senate, in the white house and the administration, republican, democrat, do they ever go outdoors? >> so the economic hammer

falling at the end of the month. $85 billion in cuts. what will that mean to your wallet or your family? $619 million in cuts to the federal aviation administration which could result in major flight delays for travelers. $406 million in cuts to head start programs meaning 70,000 children losing access and potential layoffs of 14,000 teachers and staff. and $120 million cut to health care facilities which would impact an estimated $900,000 patients. joining me now to talk more about this is kentucky's democratic congressman john yarmuth. sir, great to have you with me. let's talk about this and in the terms of how we see this sequester coming through because right now we're just seven days away. what is your take on the fact that the president was reaching out to mitch mcconnell and reaching out trying to figure out where everybody stands with just seven days left? >> well, i think i'm glad he's done that and i hope it leads to something. what we're about to embark on is

again a self-manufactured crisis. it will be horrible for the economy. it will impact a lot of people. just outside my district but certainly affecting my district is fort knox, 5,000 civilian employees of the u.s. army. there will be substantial furloughs and possibly layoffs there if the sequester were in effect for any length of time. so we've got a few days to act. i think we could actually come up with something that just delays the sequester until march 27th. then we would have four weeks in session. we'll all be back for four consecutive weeks to figure out how to fund the government for the rest of the year. because it's -- none of it's going to make any difference after march 27th because the government runs out of money then. >> all right. so you're saying push it off just a little bit further after you get back into a legislative session but as we look at what john boehner has responded by putting out a couple tweets this morning roughly right before we went on the air, talking about where the president has been saying president obama is

virtually absent from legislative process and making no discernible effort to replace mishiss sequester. he went on to say mr. president we agree your sequester is bad policy. what spending are you willing to cut to replace it? he then linked to his website talking about some of the coverage that's happened this week. as we look at the potential cuts here, congressman, meat inspectors furloughed, 4 million fewer meals to seniors' homes, 30% cut to court security, we're going to feel this right away. why don't you think that congress is getting this? the american people are getting clued in but you guys know this already. why aren't you working together? >> we absolutely do. well, i voted against the budget control act so i voted against the sequester from the beginning. i don't think right now is the time to make cuts. i think we ought to fight back and say no. this economic recovery is still too fragile. we can't afford $85 billion worth of disappearing from the economy over the next seven months. we've got long-term problems that we need to deal with, but

first of all, again, on march 27th the government runs out of money. we have no spending authority past that day. so whatever we do before then to figure out how we're going to fund the government is going to accommodate whatever impact on the sequester, so that's what we ought to be focusing on. that's why i think the only thing that makes sense is to actually delay the sequester until then. speaker boehner doesn't want to do that because he wants a lot of his members want the sequester to go into effect because they think that's a good thing. >> one thing, the dnc has a new ad they put out called stop the sequester. politico, however, is out with its headline today saying obama over playing his hand on the sequester saying obama is convinced he's got the upper hand on republicans yet he can only go, or yet he can go only so long before he risks being perceived as a main actor in washington's dysfunction, threatening a core element of his political brand. so the other side of this is the fact that people see, you know,

the president as not being willing to pony up to the table when it comes to spending cuts. however, when we saw him earlier this week give remarks on that, he did talk about knowing that the common sense approach is the fact that we need more revenue and we need to cut. >> well, you know, with all due respect to the president, he doesn't have a vote on this, on sequester. this is the institution that is led by speaker boehner so we can talk about who is to blame or who's -- has the initiative or who should be doing what but the fact is we're not in session this week. we've got a week to go before these cuts come into play. speaker boehner is the only one who can craft some kind of action in the house that would avoid that. so we shouldn't be out of session now. we should be here. we should be in washington working on this and speaker boehner has to work with his majority to work with us to figure out how to get out of this very, very serious crisis. >> we talked about seven days but really only four business

days for all of you back in washington, d.c. >> right. >> kentucky congressman january yarmuth, thanks for your time today. i appreciate it. moving on to our other big story today from south africa the temporary reprieve for olympian track athlete oscar pistorius who is now free on bail as he awaits his murder trial in which he is accused of killing his girlfriend. listen as the chief magistrate elab rates on one of the key factors in his decision for bail. >> the issue before me is whether this accused, being who he is, and with the assets that he has in the country, would possibly seek to duck and dive all over the world when even by the state's own concession he may at worst case scenario face culpable homicide. >> we'll go to michelle kosinski live outside the courthouse in pretoria. michelle, break down how this went down today. >> reporter: oscar pistorius sobbed with his body shaking as

this ruling was read. you know, you might say this was expected in many ways, but this judge made it hard for everyone to know just which way this would go. he had this two-hour ruling spelling out every detail that was brought before the court over the last four days. he actually criticized the prosecution saying a loft the evidence they brought forward was flawed but that didn't necessarily mean their case is not strong. next it was pistorius's turn. he said that he had problems with his account of what happened early that morning. the judge actually said, you know, if he felt so vulnerable that he needed to grab his gun, start shooting, not knowing who was in that bathroom, why would he rush into the danger when he had so many other opportunities available to him? ultimately ruling, though, thomas, that he is not a flight risk, not danger to the public, and those are the biggest questions necessary for him to finally say he's granting bail and pistorius is free tonight. the judge ended up upping his bail in the end to 1 million

rand the equivalent of about $112,000 u.s. with lots of conditions attached. pistorius has to vesurrender hi passports, his guns, can't use drugs or alcohol, can't return to the scene of the alleged crime, which is his home, needs permission to leave town, and has to check in with police twice a week. thomas? >> thank you so much. joining me here in the studio rikki kleman, criminal analyst and attorney. your impressions of desmond nar taking two hours to finally reveal bail or not. what is your impression of how he handled this? >> i thought he was terrific because this is a proceeding that many people all over the world are watching, so what he wanted to show, which he did show, is fundamental fairness, a complete understanding of the evidence presented by both sides. and ultimately, what michelle reports is correct. there are only two questions

here. the question is is he a danger to the community and, much more important, is he a risk of flight? and i think he made the correct decision despite the fact that many people may criticize him. >> one thing they went over pretty in depth during that two hours is the amount of cash that is available to oscar pistorius, the amount of values placed on his real estate investments in south africa, and elsewhere, and some of his finances that, cash available, liquid assets he has in the bank. the biggest thing here, though, i think when we talk about this, the coverage and the fact that the judge talked so much about tv coverage, radio coverage, you know, taking still photography, and how much this is going to influence how this case moves forward. so what is your take? because there's not going to be a jury. there's only going to be a judge that finds his guilt or not. >> that is correct. it is a different system and i can assure you, thomas, we will all become students of the law and procedure in south africa.

the media is voracious about this particular case. it does remind us of celebrity cases in the past, and what we do want to see is justice prevailing for both sides here. you have a lovely woman who has now lost her life. you also have a man who may have a very viable defense. i think that the judge has made a decision, perhaps it's against my journalistic predilection that there should not be cameras. on the other side, he needs a case that goes forward without this voracious media ruling the world. the law must rule here. and this is a case dependent on the law and the facts. and the facts for the prosecution, we got to see, got weaker and weaker day by day. >> and the judge also brought up the lead investigator and the professionalism used or not used on the scene. take a listen to what he said about that. >> the officer indeed made several errors and concessions

during cross examination. following procedure is another issue to talk about. he may well have contaminated the crime scene by not waiting. he blund erd on the exact description of the substance and needles that were on the scene initially saying it was testosterone. i think what is of primary importance to me is that while there were concessions made by the warrant officer, he is not the state case. the warrant officer is a police official that was first on the scene. he is not necessarily the most senior police official who may be tasked with the investigation. >> that certainly sets up a lot of hiccups for the prosecution and a lot of open holes for the defense. >> yes, indeed. well, we certainly know that police procedure in south africa perhaps because of resources, also perhaps because of history, is highly insufficient and inadequate. what we found in officer boto was really someone who had

messed up a crime scene and someone who really did not follow the real good rules. but, thomas, ultimately in this case this is a case about expert evidence. this is going to be a question of ballistics. this is going to be a question of what the autopsy shows us, the direction of the bullets, what was found, what wasn't found let alone what was contaminated. it is not just the testimony of this detective. >> no. i think it'll go down to the evidence like you talk about the ballistics and the trajectory of how the bullets were fired. criminal defense attorney rikki kleiman thanks for being here. the blade runner case, tragic accident or premeditated murder? tell us what you think based on what you've heard and how you've been following the case. tweet me at thomas a roberts. find me on facebook. >> i can tell you right now in straight talk. >> senator john mccain's straight talk on gun control during a recent town hall but is it tone deaf especially

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as the gun debate rages across the country arizona senator john mccain is making news for the way he handled a question at one of his town halls. on wednesday, karen teves the mom of a young man killed in a colorado theater shooting in aurora asked mccain if he supported the assault weapons ban. here's the exchange. take a listen. >> do you support assault weapons ban as supported as proposed by senator feinstein and, b, do you support a ban on high capacity magazines? if not, why not? >> i can tell you right now you

need some straight talk. that assault weapons ban will not pass the congress of the united states. >> joining me now is democratic mayor villaraigosa also with mayors against illegal guns. mr. mayor, it is good to have you here. i just want to tell further what happened. mccain did go on to sympathize with karen thanking her for her courage to speak. however, she said she was appalled by the answer the senator gave. rachel maddow reported it exclusively last night that she is encouraging family members to attend those kinds of events. she was accompanied by patricia mace the woman who disarmed the tucson shooter. were they there at the request of your organization first off and do you think that senator mccain was tone deaf in his response? >> i can't tell you they were there at the request of mayors against illegal guns. i can tell you this. i do encourage victims of gun violence, regular, every day

americans to participate in this debate. we know that the vast majority of people, close to 90%, between 85% and 90% support universal background checks. we know that upwards of 55 to 60% support an assault weapons ban and banning high capacity magazines. we should participate in this event because if we just allow the congress to do that, senator mccain is right. the assault wem ops ban may not get out of the house. we've all got to engage in this kind of conversation about sensible, responsible gun laws. >> let's talk specifically about ammunition. vice president joe biden spoke in connecticut yesterday in favor of gun control telling the audience that there needs to be limits on just that. take a listen. >> if the shooter in tucson had a ten--round magazine instead of a 30-round magazine the little granddaughter of a friend of mine from wilmington, delaware

who used to manage the philadelphia phillies, she would be alive today. wouldn't have saved everybody but the last two people shot would be alive. >> so extended magazine clips need to go. biden also talked about the shotgun strategy encouraging people if they want to own a firearm that a shotgun is the best way to go. do you agree with that type of straight talk from biden? is that effect in convincing people the government isn't out to get all guns? >> i can't tell you if it is effective. i know the government isn't trying to get rid of all guns. what people are talking about are assault weapons, high capacity magazines, universal background checks. dealing with illegal trafficking, which are people who can legally buy guns and then sell guns to people who can't. those are things that we ought to be able to agree on. when you look at the polling

people do agree with it. it is important we extend and expand this debate from just the congress because a lot of those people, frankly, have their heads in the sand. >> "usa today" has this analysis out today showing more than 900 people have died in mass shootings over the past seven years defined as incidents where four people or more have died. most were killed by people that they knew half involved family members. are background checks part of this and is the other part of this puzzle more focus on mental illness? >> absolutely. it is all of the above. there is no question that it won't just be universal background checks and high capacity magazines, assault weapons, illegal trafficking. we have to deal with mental health and mental illness. we should be making more investments in that regard. we need to make sure we have a good list of those people. we need to expand the list of people, for instance, who have a

history of domestic violence and made threats in the past. there are things that we could do to toughen our laws that are sensible that don't take guns away from everyone. >> l.a. mayor villaraigosa thanks for your time today. i appreciate it. >> thank you, thomas. >> absolutely. coming up, all but confirmed. chuck hagel one step closer to becoming defense secretary. how one republican changed the entire landscape plus snow in winter is certainly no surprise. but for some in the midwest it's the most they've seen in 50 years. first, we bring you today's producer pique. a shoe shiner who is not only an entrepreneur but also a philanthropist. love this story. for every shoe he cleans a child in need is helped. check out the entire story on my facebook page back after this. i♪ ♪ tryin' to catch me ridin' dirty ♪ ♪ tryin' to -- [ woman ] hi there. why do we always have to take your mom's car? [ male announcer ] the security of an iihs top safety pick,

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side. slippery roads just one of the many treacherous weather conditions for residents in states like kansas, nearby missouri as well. meanwhile midwest airports are up and running but dealing with massive delays. we want to check in with the weather channel's chris warren who is in chicago. chris, explain what you're seeing there. >> thomas, just a few inches of snow. that storm that caused all the problems yesterday in the plains swept through here in chicago overnight and happened overnight. most of it happening after midnight and before the morning rush. that was good news here. crews were able to get out ahead of it and really get things to where they needed to be bite morning commute. the storm did weaken considerably. it is moving away but part of the system to the south is going to redevelop and form a storm over the northeast this weekend. for the third weekend in a row will get hit with the snow. for the plains early next week some of the hardest hit areas that had it yesterday could see

it again early next week. >> the weather channel's chris warren. thanks so much. appreciate it. in las vegas police continue their search for the driver and passengers of a black range rover who they say fired at a black maserati right on the strip. it happened yesterday and this shooting caused a multi car accident that ended in the death of three people. president obama has ordered 40 additional troops to the african nation of nyjer to help french intel with their efforts in neighboring mali also in response to ongoing fighting there. drew peterson is going to be spending the next 38 years in prison. he was sentenced yesterday for the killing of his third wife kathleen savio. japan is getting closer to identifying the cause of problems to its dreamliner jets. officials say a bad paint job, inadequate taping, and a faulty part are just some of the factors that caused an oil leak. the jets were grounded last month. and now check this out. it's a cheerleader named william kerry at the university of mississippi making this

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so the new grass roots group that has emerge from the president's campaign infrastructure known as organizing for action holds its first national day of action today. the group is holding 100 events in 80 congressional districts and asking supporters to push the president's plan to combat gun violence. its website now features videos like this one of a minnesota man who lost his father in a mass shooting back in september. >> i was extremely proud when the president announced that gun violence prevention was going to be something that he was going to work to fix. i think the time is now. we've lost enough friends and family members and fellow americans. >> joining me now is ben le bolt former national press secretary for the obama 2012 campaign. ben, nice to see you. and today's day of action is focused on drumming up support for background checks. is this how we can expect to see

organizing for action mobilized to put the pressure on from the outside into washington? >> that is exactly right. public opinion was already there. 90% of americans support universal background checks. in fact, three kwaurgters erqu members support the background checks but we haven't seen a majority number of congress yet commit to pass those. these are targeted events in congressional districts around the country accompanied by advertisements showing them that their support for responsible gun safety measures. >> so, ben, organizing for action is also launching this major ad buy today. if i have this correct, close to six figures targeting 16 gop lawmakers calling on them to background checks for future gun sales and among those being targeted, senators kelly ayotte, susan collins. as a nonprofit group organizing for action has said it wouldn't be engaging in partisan political activity. is the group walking a finer line by going after just republican lawmakers? >> i don't think so.

this isn't about electoral politics. when organizing for america was formed four years ago they did engage in electoral politics. this is a much narrower mission and that's to pass the president's second term agenda. a key part of that is responsible gun safety legislation. so the entire point of this organization whether you're a republican or a democrat is to hold them accountable and to get them to pass the things that the american people voted for in november. we know that public opinion isn't enough they need to see that ground support in their districts to be able to pull the lever when the vote comes up. >> do you think you should be going after harry reid as well? >> well, listen. i think harry reid has been clear that he will bring this for a vote. there's a bipartisan group of members of congress working on this issue, in particular universal background checks. and i don't think that democrats are the issue here. there are a number of

republicans including self-proclaimed moderates who have yet to commit to support something that has the support of 90% of americans. columbine may not have happened if we had universal background checks. those guns were purchased at a gun show without checks. this won't solve every issue but it'll go a long way in terms of addressing the problem. >> great to see you. i want to bring in our friday political power panel. gang, it's great to have you all here. let's dive into sequestration because it's just so fun. david brooks' article in the "new york times" saying the president hasn't come up with a proposal to avert sequestration let alone one that is politically plausible. peggy noonan in "the wall street journal" is saying it's always cliff ceilings and looming catastrophes with barack obama. it is always government by freakout. susan, are we in freakout mode

just yet or do we have to wait until we get to thursday? >> i think this time we may actually avert freakout mode. the vibe on capitol hill is that the sequester may indeed happen on march 1st but that its effects at least for those who are on capitol hill will not be as serious as you're hearing now on all the tv stations, the gloom and doom about long lines at the airports and people not getting their benefits checks. i think it's been really exaggerated. this is only going to represent a little more than 1% of spending for this year and everyone is going to get their budget. they just have to over the course of the year reduce it by 8%. i don't think you'll see drastic cuts immediately and it will give congress time to work out a deal later. because there won't be government shutdowns and things like that happening right away we may actually this time avert real freakout mode. and i think there's a sense on capitol hill that everyone is kind of getting used to these sort of cliff hangers and what's

going to happen and there is also a much greater partisan divide over the tax versus spending issue. those things combined i think make it more likely the sequester will be a real thing on march 1st. >> meanwhile you think we'll avert the full on freakout mode however crossroads gps is out today trying to pin the blame squarely on the president. take a look. >> these cuts here in washington known as sequestration are a bad idea. you want to see a bunch of first responders lose their jobs, teachers laid off, air traffic controllers, and airport security, hardship on a whole lot of people. >> that is there just an example of the new crossroads gps ad. i've just been told jay carney's press briefing is starting in a few moments as we see there to the left of your screen transportation outgoing secretary ray lahood is standing by. we'll keep our eye on that. i want your take though on watching that crossroads the new ad out today one thing we do note the rnc has been criticized

for its ad where it put the president's words out of context about sequestration. but public polling shows that the president and the white house isn't going to get the blame. >> the polling out yesterday from pew showed half the country thinking this would be more the republicans' fault than the democrats. only about a third against obama. that is probably the core third that might be against obama on just about everything. to echo something susan said there is a "die hard" movie out but you don't have to see it to know how it ends because all the die hard movies are the same even though many people go through the process of watching them. >> bruce willis blows up a lot of stuff. >> there is stuff that blows up. deadlines. i think this does have a little bit of that character not to make light of the serious jobs at stake and the fact the country is still hurting but the political part is the die hard. this is a sequel. for the public opinion issues you mentioned the white house

feels they are in a strong position. john boehner said last week we also think this is bad. let's find a way out. >> it's like the congressional leaders are the movie goers and watching the movie where the american people are the collateral damage of what we're going to witness here. let me show everybody. we had the president speak earlier this week about where he stands with this wanting to deal with the republicans. so take a listen to this. then i want to play what joe scarborough said this morning. >> where has he been? where has the president -- has the president been vacationing for three months, four months? where has he been? >> do we have the president's remarks from earlier this week, guys? >> republicans in congress face a simple choice. my door is open. i put tough cuts and reforms on the table. >> so that happened earlier this week. he is saying i put tough cuts and reforms on the table. there were congressional dems who said to the president they

didn't want to see medicare, medicaid, social security up for cuts. but the president is willing to talk turkey when it comes to the reality that things need to be shored up. and not just when it comes to talking about revenues but that we need both to balance the books. >> absolutely. the president has been saying that. the problem is no one has been very specific on the cuts talking more specifically about the revenues. this is what the hold up is and the republicans have with the president's plan. they don't want to budge. they say they budged on revenues when the tax rates went up on the wealthiest americans during the fiscal cliff negotiations two months ago. now we're beak at square one. you saw the president say my door is open and he seemed to be taking the tact of look, i've done all i can do. let's put publish pressure on congress to act. then this sort of turned around on the president because he had not engaged republicans and after he got enough criticism he did pick up the phone and called several republican leaders the other day. not a lot of progress was

reported from those private conversations. we don't see any action. congress still out the next few days and the white house is going to -- >> the approach of maybe reaching out to rubio over in israel and getting lyndhursta graham on the phone, mitch mcconnell, john boehner, but let's take a look at what's coming next week. we have the hagel confirmation vote on tuesday and we had the real shift from the republicans of senator richard shelby of alabama saying he would step in line to vote and confirm hagel as the next defense secretary. this is a big shift because 15 republicans want obama to drop hagel completely. ted cruz leading the charge here. your take on this and the fact that we've seen republicans, three of them with shelby, johanns and cochran get onboard with hagel? >> they should be credited for

that. the core group did not have -- there were unsubstantiated attacks but at the end of the day this is a republican the democratic president reached out to to include in his cabinet. barack obama and chuck hagel agreed on iraq and other foreign policy issues but they're from different parties. the fact that most of the republicans couldn't get down with that shows you i think just how far out they are. if hagel didn't make it what would obama do, pick a democrat? what is their end game? i do think he does get confirmed and then we can move forward with the policy issues and not the personal attacks on him as a nominee thanchs vote coming up on tuesday. my thanks to our friday power panel today. really appreciate your time. >> thanks. >> re-evaluating the voting rights act. the supreme court taking up a key part this of historic law next week. the president and ceo of the national urban league joins me next. plus, jon huntsman's new conservative cause. even though not all conservatives agree. we'll have the details ahead in the side bar. today's big question for you. about oscar pistorius the blade

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[ male announcer ] introducing fiber one 80 calorie chocolate cereal. ♪ chocolate. . amblyopia or lazy eye is highly treatable when caught early yet prior research did not suggest that screening children under the age of 3 was effective. however, new data out of the university of iowa shows that testing for the condition was equally effective in children under the age of 3 as it was for older children. >> back to the white house press briefing this is outgoing transportation secretary ray lahood taking questions on the sequester. >> you know, we just started to talk to the airlines today. they're hearing about this. we're on the phone. our folks are on the phone with

them right now. on the phone with the airlines, our unions, sending e-mail to our employees so everybody gets the same information at samt time. >> they said it is a possibility this is one of the things. >> we believe that it's not possible to continue the same schedules with less people. >> how can you guarantee that safety standards will be met if you're scaling back? >> because that's what we're in the business of. that's what we do every day. our people get up every day and think about safety and we think about it in a way that maybe nobody else thinks about it. certainly common, ordinary citizens. i've said many, many times, people, thousands of people today boarded planes, buses, got in their cars and the thing they didn't think about was safety. we do. we're not -- we will never take a back seat when it comes to safety. we just absolutely will not. and that's the reason, you know,

back to jonathan's question, we're looking at everything. we're not just looking at furlough days. we're looking at every contract, our lawyers are looking at every contract, to see what impact it has for us to try and find some savings in those areas. >> why is the alarm being raised now? why not three, four months ago? why now? >> because we're in 30 days of sequester. sequester really begins march 1st but we have a 30-day window here to prepare people. and we've been working with our college here at the white house and omb for a number of months on what impact this is going to have. now is the time to do it. >> jim, yesterday at the airlines for america, it was said there would be no effect. they suspected there would be no significant impact on the air travel system. where is the disconnect between

what you're saying and what the airlines are saying? >> i don't think they have the information we're presenting today. i don't know what they used for that, jim. i think when they see the kind of cutbacks that are going to be made at some of these towers, they're going to have no choice but to really look at the fact that there are going to be delays and there are going to have to be some cutbacks on some of these flights. >> what is going to be the effect on faa inspectors? are you also going to furlough some of them that are doing the review of the safety of these planes? >> everything will be impacted in terms of the controllers and contracts. when it comes to our safety programs there will be no compromise. those are things they're looking at. we want to make sure those people are for example doing the work on the 787, doing the work on the inspection of planes.

no compromise when it comes to safety. >> that is transportation secretary ray lahood taking questions from the white house press corps introduced by jay carney and the press asking a lot of serious questions about what the murfurloughs would mea for regular movement around the country talking specifically about airports. the secretary saying they have been in touch with airlines and the unions talking with everybody at the same time so that they have all the information that they need. however, he did concede that it's impossible to keep the same schedules with less people but have, however, is guaranteeing that all safety standards will remain the same. we're back with much more right here on msnbc after this. ein ba, with simple, real ingredients, like roasted peanuts, creamy peanut butter, and a rich dark-chocolate flavor, plus 10 grams of protein, so it's energy straight from nature to you. nature valley protein bars. i've got a nice long life ahead. big plans. so when i found out medicare doesn't pay all my medical expenses,

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breaking news concerning the disgraced olympian lance armstrong, and our pete williams is joining us from d.c. to explain how a case from the government is moving forward. pete. >> this is a serious new legal threat to lance armstrong who has so far successfully avoided

any legal reprecussions from his use of performance enhancing drugs in the tour de france. the justice department will shortly moif a federal court here in washington that it is joining a whistle blower lawsuit that was filed two years ago by one of armstrong's former teammates, floyd landis. now, landis has admitted cheating in the tour de france, but in a 33-page lawsuit that he filed two years ago he claims that lance armstrong twice gave him hormones that were banned and that he twice participated with armstrong in a practice called blood doping, where you take some of your own blood out, put it in the refrigerator, and then put it back in right before a race, and the government's involvement here will basically claim that lance armstrong defrauded the federal government because his tour de france teams were sponsored by the u.s. postal service. landis in his lawsuit says that the postal service had a strict rule against any of its employees using performance enhancing or illegal or banned

substances, so it greatly increases the likelihood that this lawsuit will go someplace, and, secondly, exposes armstrong to potentially millions of dollars in fines. now, it's not a fool proof case because there's a question here about how long ago this happened and whether the lawsuit is filed too late. there is also a question about whether the contract that pe signed explicitly did or did not ban these substances. it's want a slam dunk. the fact is that this greatly increases the legal exposure for lance armstrong. it's a serious escalation in this lawsuit, and it's -- it opens up potentially whole new chapter in the legal saga for lance armstrong. >> pete, there are a lot of different components to the legal saga against armstrong. he missed that deadline on wednesday by the u.s. anti-doping agency to set a time to come in and testify under oath. he is pretty much bucking them. how much do you think this is

working in coordination with that, seeing that he is not going to participate with that, that this leaves the government no choice? >> well, not yet in coordination, but the website villo news, which has followed lance armstrong's career very closely, reported earlier this week, and reproduced a letter from the ceo of the anti-doping agency urging the justice department to do just what we've been told by legal sources it's going to do here shortly, and pledging to turnover all the manufacturings it has urging the government to get involved, saying that it's time that this fraud was exposed and offering its full support, so they're not coordinated yet, and all that's really happened here is that the government will shortly, we're told by legal sources, tell the court that it intends to join this lawsuit and then it will file its own complaint, but basically here the question isn't itself whether or not lance armstrong dopes. this is a little different than the government's cases in other

doping allegations. say barry bonds, the baseball player, roger clemens. here it's the question, it's fraud. it's not a criminal case. it's a civil case. the government trying to ror money saying that lance armstrong basically cheated the government out of the money it spent sponsoring the tour de france. one other note here, thomas. i'm sure the defense will say, you know what, the tour de france got a lot out of its sponsorship. >> sure. >> have you to subtract any benefits that the postal service got out of sponsoring the race before you figure out how much he owes, and we're a long way from knowing whether he owes anything, but it does indicate a whole new serious level of legal exposure for lance armstrong. >> pete williams reporting from washington d.c. pete, thank for joining us so quickly. i appreciate it. that's going to wrap things up for me today. have a great weekend. i'll see you back here on monday at 11:00 a.m. eastern. don't go anywhere. "now with alex wagner" comes your way next. at tyco integrated security, we consider ourselves business optimizers. how? by building custom security solutions that integrate video,

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